Container closure comprising a sound producer

ABSTRACT

A sound-producing container closure for closing a container is provided. The closure is made at least partially of a brittle material. Furthermore, the closure is configured to be deformed upon opening the container such that the brittle material is deformed and thus produces a sound.

The invention relates to a container closure with sound-producing means.

Commercially available on the one hand are bottles with crown caps andon the other hand bottles with swing top closures, the latter beingpreferred by users due to the striking deep sound (“plop”) that occursupon opening. Moreover, a clear opening sound which is caused bypressure equalisation between the content of the bottle and thesurroundings has the advantage of indicating the integrity of the bottleclosure, and so when it is missing suggests that the content of thebottle may have been tampered with or that the content of the bottle hasbeen manipulated.

However, swing top closures are more expensive to produce andadditionally have the disadvantage of the bottles being equipped withthem being difficult to introduce into a deposit circuit or a disposalsystem.

From the patent literature numerous bottle closures are known whichsupposedly produce a clear opening sound without the use of swing topclosures. Therefore crown caps were proposed with which an opening soundis produced by means of additional elastic bulges which are moulded ontothe inside of the crown cap such that they press against the upperinternal wall of the neck of the bottle, provided the bottle is sealed,and when the bottle is opened are abruptly released from the neck of thebottle, by means of which a sound is produced (JP 01-139 350 A, JP04-018 255 A, JP 07-257 628 A, JP 07-277 358A and WO 2004/067 402 A1).However, these closures have various disadvantages: Conventional crowncaps can not be used in this way, but rather special caps have to beproduced (which have said bulges on the inside). Moreover, production isexpensive because the sound-producing parts are connected directly tothe sealing parts of the cap and must observe the dimensional tolerancesof the latter. Finally, the type of sound which can be produced withthis type of closure is restricted to a “plop”.

Furthermore, from the patent literature a bottle closure is known whichproduces a whistling sound by the escaping gas flowing to the outsidethrough a pipe fitted in the bottle opening after the opening of theactual cap. (NL 8001976 and JP 2000085779 A). However, this type ofsound producer is relatively expensive to produce and additionally hasthe disadvantage that it also remains in the bottle after removing theclosure, and this would bother most users of drink bottles because thepipe disposed in the neck of the bottle makes it difficult e.g. tointroduce drinking straws or slices of lemon into the neck of the bottleand for the drink to flow out.

Means for producing whistling sounds are also proposed for cans of drink(U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,718 A and JP 2000 006 968 A). However, as with theaforementioned pipes in the necks of bottles, these sound producers alsohave the disadvantage that that container must be produced in a modifiedform before filling and closing, and so the sound-producing means cannot be fitted subsequently.

All of the aforementioned possibilities have the additional disadvantagethat the material used to produce the sound comes into contact with theliquid in the bottle—i.e. it must where necessary be food safe, and thismakes production more expensive.

Finally, from the patent literature a sound producer is known with whichthe material of the bottle cover is moulded in the manner of thechildren's “snap action frog” toy, and in the closed state of the bottleis in the semi-stable state so that upon opening the bottle, as a resultof pressure equalisation, it jumps into the stable state and in so doingproduces a sound (JP 2004 196 318 A). This type of sound producer isonly suitable for screw closures though, and not however for crown capsbecause the latter are deformed upon opening, and due to this, the soundproducer, which is dependent upon the holding of its outer shape inorder to function, is prevented from functioning, or at least itsfunction is interrupted. Moreover, another disadvantage of this soundproducer is that closure parts must be produced which have relativelycritical dimensions, and so are more expensive than the conventionalcrown caps.

The object which forms the basis of the invention is to provide acontainer closure with which different opening sounds can be producedand which is inexpensive to produce. In particular, the sound-producershould be suitable for use with conventional drinks containers and theclosures of the latter, such as e.g. for cans of drink or for bottleswith crown caps.

According to the invention the object is achieved by a container closurewith the features of Patent claim 1.

An essential advantage results from the fact that the sound-producingmeans (brittle material) is fitted outside of the container interior oris separated from the drink content at least by the conventional sealingmeans (when using crown caps by sealing discs disposed here in theinterior). Therefore, when designing the sound producers, as regardsshape and material, one need hardly take into account the requirementsof the seal or the cleanliness of the container content. The pluralityof materials and shapes which it thus becomes possible to use enablesdifferent designs for the production of different sounds.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention a crown cap closure of aknown design has glued to it a disc made from a brittle material. Thismakes it possible, in a particularly inexpensive way, not only toproduce sound-producing closures. In fact, in this way, even bottleswhich have already been closed in a conventional manner are subsequentlyequipped in a further procedural step with the sound producer. One doesnot already need to decide when filling which bottles are to be providedwith a sound producer. In fact, the bottles can be filled, transportedand stored, and only subsequently be provided with the sound producer ifso required. This facilitates the production of small series, e.g. fortemporary sales campaigns.

Further advantages of the invention are given in the followingdescription of an exemplary embodiment particularly suitable for crowncap closures.

However, it is also possible to fit the sound producer to the closure ofa can of drink or to produce a bottle closure totally from the brittlematerial (e.g. in the manner of a crown cap made of brittle plastic).

The figures show as follows:

FIG. 1 a section of the closure in the closed state,

FIG. 2 a section of the closure during the opening process.

The closure 1 here is a commercially available crown cap 1 made of sheetmetal which with its bent over edge covers the neck of the bottle 2 witha form fit. Glued onto the upper side of the latter is a glass disc 3with the same or a smaller diameter, a disc with a smaller diameteressentially having to be attached concentrically.

Upon opening (FIG. 2) the crown cap 1 bends and the brittle glassbreaks—shown here in FIG. 2 in spatial region 4,—a crunching sound beingproduced, similar to that caused e.g. when crushing ice cubes.

1. A sound-producing container closure for closing a container, theclosure being made at least partially of a brittle material, wherein theclosure is configured to be deformed upon opening the container suchthat the brittle material is deformed and thus produces a sound.
 2. Thecontainer closure according to claim 1, wherein the brittle materialbreaks as a result of the deformation and therefore produces the sound.3. The container closure according to claim 1, wherein the closurecomprises a closure member having an outer surface, and the brittlematerial is attached to the outer surface of the closure member, andwherein the closure member is made of a material different than thebrittle material.
 4. The container closure according to claim 3, whereinthe brittle material is a hardened coating which was previously appliedin liquid form to the closure member, and upon hardening formed anadhesive connection to the closure member.
 5. The container closureaccording to claim 1, wherein the whole closure is made of the brittlematerial.
 6. The container closure according to claim 1, wherein thebrittle material is glass.
 7. The container closure according to claim1, wherein the brittle material is a synthetic resin.
 8. The containerclosure according to claim 1, wherein the brittle material is sealingwax.
 9. The container closure according to claim 1, wherein the brittlematerial is Schellac.
 10. The container closure according to claim 1,wherein the brittle material is a metal.
 11. The container closureaccording to claim 1, wherein the container is a bottle and the closureis a crown cap.
 12. The container closure according to claim 11, whereinthe brittle material is formed as a disc to which a top surface of thecrown cap is applied.
 13. The container closure according to claim 11,wherein the brittle material is formed as a ring that encompasses anouter circumference of the crown cap.
 14. The container closureaccording to claim 11, wherein the brittle material is formed as a capthat encloses the crown cap.